News:

"There is a terrible desperation to the increasingly pathetic rationalizations from the climate denial camp. This comes as no surprise if you take the long view; every single undone paradigm in history has died kicking and screaming, and our current petroleum paradigm 🐉🦕🦖 is no different. The trick here is trying to figure out how we all make it to the new ⚡ paradigm without dying ☠️ right along with the old one, kicking, screaming or otherwise." - William Rivers Pitt

The fossil fuels industry and their lobbyists are always telling us that we can't afford not to use their dirty energy. Fossil fuels are abundant and cheap, they say. Renewables can't do the job, they argue, and switching to them would cripple our economy. But it's all a Dirty Lie.

Greenpeace: Don't believe the dirty lie It's time we started pushing back. The Dirty Lie is constantly repeated by coal and oil industry lobbyists and their friends in Congress. We need your help to call out the Dirty Lie whenever and wherever we find it.

How can you help call out the Dirty Lie?

When you come across the Dirty Lie being repeated without challenge, report it to us via Facebook, Twitter, or Delicious. In turn, we'll let you know how you can help call out the worst offenders. Get the full scoop here: How you can help call out the Dirty Lie.

We put together a factsheet to help you recognize the Dirty Lie when you see it. You can view the factsheet below, or right-click this link and choose "Save Link As" to download the PDF: Dirty Lie Factsheet.

How do we know it's a Dirty Lie?

We teamed up with more than 30 scientists and engineers from universities, institutes, and the renewable energy industry to create our new report, Energy [R]evolution: A Sustainable USA Energy Outlook. The report lays down a blueprint for how we ensure our emissions peak by 2015, as the Nobel prize-winning IPCC says they must if we’re to avoid runaway global warming, while phasing out nuclear and fossil fuel energy. It also shows how we can provide about 96% of our electricity from renewable sources by 2050, growing our economy and creating 1.1 million jobs in the renewables sector alone by 2030 in the process.

Dirty Lie Factsheet

Published by Greenpeace

We’ve all heard the arguments from Big Oil and King Coal: “Without coal and oil, energy and gas prices would go through the roof;” or “We have to use domestic coal and oil reserves to ensure our energy security;” and “Renewables can’t do the job, so we have to keep using fossil fuels.”

That’s the Dirty Lie: The idea, heavily promoted by coal and oil industry lobbyists and their friends in Congress, that there is no remedy for our addiction to fossil fuels. But the truth is that with today’s technology, we can continue to grow our economy while phasing out fossil fuels altogether.

Dirty Lie #1: Oil and coal are cheap and plentiful

Despite wildly volatile price swings, Fossil Fuel companies love to claim that their products are cheap and virtually unlimited. The truth is that they’re only cheap if you don’ t count the billions of dollars paid in cleanup costs from oil spills, the public health costs of water and air pollution, and the lives and livelihoods lost to accidents and illness. And plentiful? Oil and coal companies are using untested technology and taking unprecedented risks to wring out every last ounce of fossil fuel from the ends of the earth, including oil drilling miles under the surface of the ocean.

Dirty Lie #2: Renewables like wind and solar can’t do the job

Greenpeace’s Energy Revolution report lays out a practical path to a virtually coal and oil free economy, while at the same time phasing out ALL of our nuclear plants. On its own, greater energy efficiency can account for the projected increase in our energy demands. A diverse and highly localized combination of things like electric vehicles, small-scale and large-scale wind and solar projects, and smart grids can supply the rest. The truth is, renewable energy can power the US economy, and we can start right now.

Dirty Lie #3: Switching to renewables will hurt the economy

In spite of the global recession that has bottomed out many global industries, renewable energy, and wind in particular, grew by 40% last year. Already, the wind industry employs more people than the coal industry. And recently, our biggest economic competitor—China—surpassed the US as the world’s largest investor in renewable energy. Renewable energy is the key to the 21st century economy, and the longer we are stuck on fossil fuels, the further behind we will be.

Dirty Lie #4: Oil and coal companies are part of the solution

Fossil fuel companies love to tout their “commitment” to the environment and their pursuit of new energy sources. But while they’re spending millions on green washing ad campaigns, many are also spending millions to confuse the public about issues like climate change. Exxon, for example, gave $1.3 million to climate denial organizations last year. And don’t forget that BP has held itself up as“ beyond petroleum” for years.